Happy Little Stampers February Sketch challenge & Showcase your Style

Hello to all my friends, followers and fellow bloggers.  Thanks for dropping by today.

A really quick card today to enter into the Happy Little Stampers February Sketch challenge.  Here is the sketch:

I thought it was so pretty that the temptation was to actually recreate it!!!  But I think that defeats the point..............so here is what I came up with:

I started off with a blank 5 x 7 card and using Memento London Fog stamped Stampin Up Off the Grid stamp and then over stamped with three different Paper Artsy Mini grunge stamps.  I then die cut two mini and one normal Memory Box hot air balloons out of d/p from my stash.  Popped them up with silicone and then stamped the sentiment from Sheena Douglass's A Little Bit Sketchy Only Words - From the Heart using SU Pumpkin Pie ink.

This also fits with the Showcase your Style challenge.  Thanks for the heads up Dippy. Here is their challenge photo:

Have a great day.

Happy crafting.

I'm late, I'm late........for a very important date!!!!

Phew.......skin of teeth moment - the bar goes down tomorrow for the very first challenge over at Clearly Besotted - Anything Goes;  I really wanted to join the fun and was determined by hook or crook to make a card which, co-incidentally, fits in with the theme of Jen's birthday over at Less is More.  Happy birthday Jen - hope you're having fun in Istanbul!

Anyway, I have some wonderful Clearly Besotted stamps and dies sitting on my desk crying out to be played with and so this morning when I was waiting for my sister Val (Canonbury Creations) and hubby  Jim to arrive I managed to make this little card. 

 

I've used Clearly Besotted Background Builder for the music strip, Happy Everything and the matching dies for the blossom and the amazing Happy Days stamp set for the sentiment.  The blossom was coloured with Flexmarkers and I've added Liquid Pearls to the stamens.  The music was stamped using Memento London Fog and the sentiment with Memento Bamboo Leaves.  I die cut the blossom and used silicone to pop it up after shaping a little.  The base layer was then popped up using d/s foam to the base 5x5" card.

Right, better go and continue entertaining and then we are going out for a lovely meal tonight.  Keeping our fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow...........otherwise Val and I will be squirreling ourselves away in my craftroom!!!  lol

Happy Birthday Ardyth - Part 2........

Following on from my post yesterday here is another card for Ardyth which I think is more her style..........loads of colour and CAS!  All Ardyth's birthday cards are on show over at Darnell's blog so pop on over and have a look - and maybe join in the fun.

Very quick and easy - I've stamped the image in black Memento ink.  It's a very old Whispers stamp but doesn't have a a name on it.  Coloured with Flexmarkers and glittered with Atyou Spica pens.  I've added Crystal Lacquer to all the flames although not sure the photo does that justice.  The sentiment is again from Clearly Besotted "Happy Days" which is so versatile - inked using a Kaleidacolour Pastel rainbow pad.

Thanks for popping by.

Less is More - Week 116 - CASe It

Well, what a glorious day we've got here in Somerset - blue skies and sunshine although a chilly wind......but it lifts you up seeing the sun.

Here is my card for the latest Less is More challenge.   Here are the details:

This week we are having a challenge not previously employed at "Less is More".

We have only two sample cards this time as we would like you to choose one (or both if you feel so inclined)  and CASE IT/them.

There could be a variety of ways that this could be achieved... ie use of the colours, the layout, the subject matter, technique or the complete card. Please state the inspiration for your CASE.

I have wanted to try out this new (to me anyway) technique of stamping an image and then stamping it on letters/sentiments and placing one on top of the other.  It looks stunning but I had a bit of trouble in that the alphabet dies I have are quite small and I use them mainly for card making hence the size; but you really do need something slightly larger so it shows up. 

The first card I did went totally wrong and the letters got engulfed in the background.  So then I spent ages cutting out letters from a Die-Versions Editor in Chief alphabet.  I die cut two of each letter to make them stand out more and then stuck them together.  I chose quite an open stamp of sketchy boats/sail boards (not sure which) on the sea.  I stamped this in Memento Bahama Blue ink.  I then placed the letters for Happy Birthday on some easy lift tape so they wouldn't move and then placed this on a piece of acetate.  I lined the acetate up with the stamped image so I could decide on the placement.  I then stamped the image again over the letters and acetate - this way I could see exactly where they should go.

I have used my Big Splash border (MB) along the bottom and then mounted it onto a piece of coredinations which was embossed and sanded.  I used some white linen cardstock for my base card and embossed two lines and added a thin strip of the same coredinations.

Thanks for popping in - hope you're having this lovely weather wherever you are.

Less is More - Colour Challenge

This week's challenge over at Less is More is a colour challenge and Chrissie & Jen have chosen:

 

For this month our colour choice is 

LIME & BLACK

We are delighted to have a new sponsor, 

Stephanie 

from 

Clearly Besotted Stamps

Lime is a very vibrant colour and I must admit I had to hunt around a bit to see if I had any card in this colour but wanted to join in this challenge to be in the running for a prize from the uber talented Stephanie..........gorgeous stamps and dies.

I die cut the Memory Box Orchard Tree Frame using lime and black card.  I then folded some A4 white pearlescent card to make an A5 card blank and again die cut the frame in the front of the card.  I then took the outline of the tree from the lime die cut and placed inside the white aperture and then took all the negative shapes from the black die cut and added them to the lime tree - thus making up the whole image.  All the pieces were adhered at the back so nothing fell out and another piece of card attached so you can't see the "workings" of the card.  I die cut a Spellbinders bonsai tree out of the lime card.  The sentiment is from the Elusive Images Birthday Words set, stamped in Memento Pear Tree and die cut using Spellbinders Ornamental Tags Two.  I've added three lime pearls (although not sure the colour really shows up) and some tiny diamante gems through the tree to look like stars.

Thanks so much for popping in.  I won't be around for the next few days as I am going on a 3 day workshop tomorrow, have a Parish Council meeting tomorrow night and our monthly craft club on Wednesday night.......think I'm going to need a holiday after all that!!!  lol

Less is More - Week 93 - One Layer - Houses

Afternoon everyone - hope you're all well.  This week the lovely Chrissie has been joined by "first to the post" Jen!!!  lol  I'm sure she will be great at supporting Chrissie whilst Mandi is busy beavering away at her new business - and if Jen's card samples are anything to go by we're in for a treat.  Pop over and see them on the Less is More blog.

I think this is the first time I've ever posted a LIM card on the first day but I'm trying to get things clear as we're decorating again so need to supervise...........! 

So this week's challenge is the dreaded ONE LAYER and the theme is HOUSES.

I've used a Chocolate Baroque set called Home Sweet Home.  Stamped directly on a 5" square card using Memento ink and then masked, using a cut out of Spellbinders Exquisite Circles, and sponged around the edge with Distress Inks. 

The image has been coloured using Flexmarkers and a little Spica Atyou glitter used on the windows of the house.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

Have a great weekend.  Thanks for dropping by to visit.

Less is More - Week 80 - One Layer

Happy Sunday everyone - hope you're all having a good weekend.  Well, I'm definitely improving on last week and decided everything else could wait whilst I made my challenge card for the lovelies over at Less is More whose challenge this week is:

ONE LAYER CARD

and this time the subject of your creations should feature

FUR or FEATHERS

(This should give you plenty of scope.)

As ever, please don't forget that white space and keep any embellishments to a minimum.

I think we are all getting used to what used to be the dreaded "one layer" cards and it doesn't panic us quite as much as it did!!!  lol  I've used an A5 card and turned it to landscape orientation.  and used my lovely stamp BAZOO - Just for You by Helz Cuppleditch - it's such a cute image (and I'm hoping these giraffes will come under the Fur category).  Stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves and Rich Cocoa (giraffes inked up first and then used the Bamboo Leaves on the frame).  Coloured entirely with Flexmarkers.  The sentiment is from the same set and the same inks etc used.

BTW - and this is mainly for Mandi & Chrissie......... - my photographic skills seem to have deserted me today and I couldn't manage to get a photograph that showed the right colours - so I'm afraid I resorted to my trusty scanner!  SORRY...............

Thanks for dropping by and leaving comments and will love to pop over to your blogs to see your fantastic creations.

Less is More - Week 68 - Theme

A very warm hello to everyone out in blogland today - and I really mean that!!!  It's really hot out there today and I've been doing some planting and was "glowing" ......... so thought I'd better come inside and cool down.  Just finished off my card for the Less is More challenge which this week is to make a card for a baby or child.  As I've made a few baby cards recently I decided to make a child's card and decided to use this teddy bear fishing stamp for the main focus of the card.  Unfortunately all it's got on the side of the stamp is copyright Bramley Crafts/MH but no name of the character.  I stamped it using Rich Cocoa Memento ink and coloured with my Letraset Flexmarkers and then cut out by hand.  The mat is a scalloped square nestie and I used a Martha Stewart punch on the border and added a ribbon.  On the base card I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then scored lines down each side.  I've added some Glossy Accents to the jar and the teddy's eyes.  The sentiment was computer generated.

Hope you're all enjoying this glorious weather - fingers crossed there's more to come.

Happy crafting.

 

 

Less is More - Week 61 Lucky Dip

This week's challenge over at Less is More is:

Picture Inspiration
 for you from the fabulous 

Design Seeds
It is a wonderful source of colour combinations.

 

Aren't they gorgeous colours?  I've had this Memory Box stamp and die for quite a while but haven't had the chance to use it yet.  I stamped the Chrysanthemum Frame onto cream card using Memento ink in Bamboo Leaves, Rich Cocoa and Tuxedo Black and coloured using Flexmarkers.  I then cut a negative mask which basically just masked off the borders and flowers and sponged over Old Paper DI to add some depth.  I wanted to mat the main frame image so cut it out using scissors and then die cut a mat in pearlised green card using Memory Box Blank Ticket die.  I then stamped out the flowers and coloured them so I could add dimension by decoupaging them.  The swirl border is also a Memory Box die.  The sentiment is from my Stampin Up Always Elegant set stamped onto matching cream card, matted onto green pearl card and punched out using my EK Success label punch.

I'm also entering this into the Allsorts challenge.

Thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Colour Challenge "A Touch of Red"

This week's challenge over at Less is More is A Touch of Red.

I am in the middle of doing samples for our next craft club night where we are having a Stampin Up evening so thought this was an ideal opportunity to not only make a sample but to do it on the lines of the LIM challenge.


I have taken a blank DL card and stamped the flower from A Touch of Nature stamp set using Memento ink.  I then stamped it again on a piece of post-it note, to create a mask, and cut out the image.  I then cut an aperture in a sheet of copy paper using a nestie and attached it to my card, centering it over the flower over which I had placed the mask.  I then inked up the French text background stamp with Memento ink and stamped through the aperture.  I coloured the flower with Promarkers.  The sentiment is from the Wonderful Words stamp set.  To finish off I punched the four edges of the card using my Martha Stewart corner punch.

Thanks for stopping by.

If only my waist was this size!!!!

I recently treated myself to two Clarity stamps - the corset and the word stamp "feminine". They have just arrived so couldn't wait to have a play and came up with this very quick card which I think is lovely.

I inked the corset up with black Memento ink, placed some Angelina fibres over the inked stamp with a piece of baking parchment over the top and ironed it. As soon as you see the image coming through the parchment then you know it's ready. I then inked up the word and stamped it twice to look like a pair of legs, cut out the corset image and glued it on top of the "legs". A piece of patterned co-ordinating paper (from my stash) covered my base card and I punched the bottom with a Martha Stewart deep edger punch (Floral Vine). A small piece of blue mirri card was placed at the bottom of the base card before attaching the paper. The main topper was matted onto another piece of blue mirri and attached to the main card. A small blue bow and some blue gems finished the card.

Thanks for looking.